Interview: Truckdump - The American way to empty a truck

24.07.2019 | Noticias | SWISS KRONO Group

South Carolina. One of the most modern plants in North America is being built at our site in Barnwell. We spoke with Bernd Henrich (48), project manager and a trained plant builder, about the new "Truckdump" plant and the recycling of third-party chips.

Mr. Henrich, the Truckdump plant for accepting third-party chips was recently inaugurated at the Barnwell plant. Can you explain to us what is involved with wood chips or third-party chips?

Wood chips are the actual umbrella term, they are coarsely crushed wood. Usually this term is used for self-made wood chips. The term external wood chips then refers to purchased material. Wood chips are the most important raw material in our production.

What are the advantages of using such third-party chips?

In the event of supply bottlenecks and price fluctuations, we are more flexible in the procurement of raw materials. If, for example, the chipper line or the log crane fails, the supply can be ensured by external chips.

The new Truckdump system is used for delivery. Can you explain to us what it is used for?

The truck dump is used to pick up third-party chips and fuel from trucks and forward them to the appropriate warehouses.

Can you describe the process of emptying a truck to us?

The truck has to drive up a ramp backwards until its "docks" at a support. Then the driver opens the unloading flap on his trailer and goes to the operating terminal outside the safety area. From there he starts the "tipping process". The boom together with the truck now begins to move into a vertical position of 63 degrees until the complete load has finally reached a collecting container. When the truck is back in the horizontal position, the driver uncouples the truck and drives to the scale. The special feature is that the whole process does not require any additional operating personnel on our part. Everything is completely handled by the truck driver.

Such a fully loaded truck weighs an awful lot, how are the vehicles fixed on the boom?

The truck is fixed to the boom with a chain on the bumper. This is the only safety device.

What are the advantages of the tipping procedure when emptying?

The unloading of trucks is faster with the tipping method than with conventional methods, such as sliding floors or emptying with wheel loaders, as it is practiced elsewhere. In addition, using truck dump and the connected belt conveyor, wheel loaders are no longer required to transport the chips to the warehouse.

What happens to the chips after unloading?

After unloading, the chips pass through a coarse disc screen, where oversized pieces are sorted out. The remaining chips are fed to the chip storage via a belt conveyor. When fuel is delivered, this also passes through the disc screen before the fuel is fed to the bark conveyor system via a changeover flap, where it is shredded and screened again. From there it goes to the fuel store.

Are plants such as Truckdump also used in Europe?

I don't know it yet. At least not in our plants. In Europe, most trucks have an integrated sliding floor.